


The Gift Of Akatosh

by AnnElfwind



Category: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Akatosh Gifted Him The Ability, But He Can Shout, Fluff, M/M, Martin Septim Lives, Martin is NOT the Dragonborn, Skyrim Main Quest, Will be Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:08:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24512074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnElfwind/pseuds/AnnElfwind
Summary: Heh, something I wanted to write for a long time now. What would happen, if, at the end of Oblivion, Akatosh decided to intervene, and instead of Martin becoming the dragon god, Akatosh sends him into the future? Specifically into Skyrim.Martin is NOT the Dragonborn and the slash will NOT be Martin and the Dragonborn. The Dragonborn is too young for that!P.S. This is my first fic posted here. Be gentle with me. :D
Relationships: Martin Septim/?
Comments: 31
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

He did it, he finally did something emperor like. He managed to stop Dagon from fully crossing over and destroying all of Tamriel. And let’s face it, being a giant-ass of a dragon was pretty cool! Even if it meant his death. Which, yeah, since he was dead, how was he thinking? Weird. Also, what was with this black and purple void?

“Simple,” he heard a voice call seemingly out of nowhere.

“Who is it?” Martin asked.

“I think you already know the answer to that question. Don’t you?” the voice chuckled.

“Akatosh?” Martin whispered.

“Yep, and frankly, your journey is just beginning,” the dragon god honest to god _giggled_ and then the void vanished and was replaced by the cold of winter.

“Good luck,” Martin heard before the presence of Akatosh left him.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” Martin heard a voice from in front of him.

“Wuh…” he slurred, still not fully awake.

“You were trying to cross the border, right?” the voice asked.

Maritn blinked to clear his vision and finally registered what was going on around him. He was in a cart with a few other people. His hands were bound and the voice that just spoke to him belonged to a young fair-haired nord man sitting on the bench opposite him. Next to him was another Nord, this one in rags and very nervous. Next to Martin was a teen that at closer inspection looked maybe sixteen and had misleading hair of pure silver. And the last person in the cart was a Nord that was gagged. Martin wondered about that but did not voice anything.

Instead, he turned to the guy that spoke to him, intending to find out what was going on, but as he turned his head a little too fast, he felt something against his neck. He tried to look down and managed to spot something gold and red peeking from beneath his clothing.

And then the voice of Akatosh was back in his head.

“A little gift,” the god whispered. “All the drawbacks of using it are gone, but it will only work for you. And I’ve given you one more gift, but you will have to discover what it is on your own, goodbye for now.”

Then he was gone and Martin was left staring at what was the Dragon Amulet.

“Hey, are you even listening to me?” The fair Nord grew impatient.

“Oh, sorry,” Martin finally turned to him.

“So, were you trying to cross the border?” the Nord asked again.

“Where are we?” Martin asked instead.

“Skyrim…” the Nord answered, confused.

“Figures,” Martin huffed. “And no, I wasn’t trying to cross the border.”

“But you were caught in the ambush,” the Nord said. “Also, my name is Ralof.”

“Well, Ralof, I don’t know what to tell you, other than that I blame Akatosh for this mess. Oh, and I’m Martin.”

Ralof was about to say something, but one of the guards riding next to the carriage decided to butt in.

“Quiet,” he barked. “No talking!”

Martin raised an eyebrow at that but decided not to test his luck just yet.

The wagons slowly made their way down the road and soon reached a town of some sort.

“Helgen,” Ralof whispered, probably for Martin’s sake.

Martin looked around and could spot an Imperial dressed in some fancy uniform talking to a bunch of Altmer. He couldn’t hear them, but he started to have his suspicion about Akatosh not just flinging him back to life, but sending him to a different time. Even if this was Skyrim, it didn’t seem like a crisis has just taken a place in Cyrodiil. And Akatosh _was_ the god of Time…

The wagons came to a stop and the soldiers motioned for everybody to step off in a single-file line. As the others started to get off, Martin noticed that the teen next to him was still out of it. He nudged him and he jerked awake, wildly looking around.

“Come on,” Martin motioned with his head to where everybody was exiting the wagons and one by one being ticked off on a list one of the fancier dressed soldiers was holding.

The teen hopped out of the carriage and Martin followed after him. It was obvious now that this was an execution. He could even see the executioner for Akatosh’s sake.

One by one the prisoners were ticked off on the list until there were just three left. Him, the kid and the Nord in rags, who tried to run and was shot by the archers. The kid in front of him flinched and he moved closer to him on instinct. The legate refocused on her list and then frowned.

“You two,” she pointed at Martin and the kid, “you’re not on the list, who are you?”

But before either of them could answer, she shook her head and continued.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, to the block you go,” and she pointed to where all the other prisoners were gathered and guarded in a square in front of a tower.

Martin frowned at that. This was wrong, the Empire was not supposed to execute people just like that. If this was the future, it was obvious that the Empire screwed up somewhere along the way. Still, there was nothing he could do at this point so he gently steered the kid toward the other prisoners, casting a glance at the legate along the way. She didn’t see him, though, as she was, again, frowning at her list.

A speech was made and a priestess attempted to give everyone their last rites, but one of the captured soldiers, for that is what they were, Stormcloaks, if he heard right, decided that he would rather get on with it and walked bravely to the chopping block. He was made to kneel down and put his head on the block. And then the ax came swinging and the head rolled away.

A quiet sniffle came from the kid, but there was nothing Martin could do. That was made even more obvious when he was the next to be called to the chopping block. As he slowly made his way forward, he thought he heard something in the distance. Apparently he wasn’t the only one.

“Did you hear that?” one of the empire soldiers asked.

“Sentries, what do you see?” The leader of the soldiers asked in a brisk voice.

“Nothing,” was the answer Martin heard as he made it to the block and was made to kneel down.

He was about to put his head on the block when he heard a faint roar. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he just couldn’t place it.

“There it is again!” a different empire soldier than before yelled.

“What is it?” barked the general.

“It’s in the clouds!” was the answer as Martin placed his head on the block.

The executioner lifted his giant ax and was about to swing it when the ground shook and something black landed on top of the tower. A scream of “Dragon!” was heard and then a roar and everything shook again. Rocks began raining down and Martin was thrown a few meters away from the block.

Shakily he stood up and looked around. The fair-haired Nord – Ralof – was beckoning him to a partially ruined tower across the square. But Martin ignored him in favor of searching for the kid. He spotted him trying to get to his feet a few meters away. Running over, he pulled him up and then dragged him to the tower Ralof was beckoned him to. It would offer at least some safety from the huge dragon creating hell outside.

When they made it to the tower, the gagged prisoner – Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the Stormcloaks – was there, now gag-less. Ralof was also there.

“Sir, could the legends be true?” he asked.

“Legends don’t burn down villages,” Ulfric answered.

“This one does,” Martin butted in. “So maybe we could stop debating whether it is real and starting to come up with a way out?”

“He has a point,” one of the other Stormcloaks in the tower answered. “Maybe we could find a way out upstairs?”

He then went up the stairs to see what was there.

His optimism was short-lived though. The way to the upper-most floor was blocked by rocks and before he could even suggest clearing those, the wall burst and a huge dragon head poked in.

“Yol… Toor… Shul!” Martin faintly heard in the dragon’s roar as fire spewed out of its mouth, killing the soldier instantly. The dragon lingered a little, but then pulled out and moved somewhere else in the town.

Martin climbed the stairs, the kid sticking as close to him as he could, and looked out of the hole the dragon made. There was a partly burned down building near the tower, the upper loft visible through the destroyed roof.

“Maybe you could jump across,” suggested Ralof who climbed the stairs after them.

Martin judged the distance. It looked doable… He looked at the kid clinging to him.

“We’re jumping across,” he told him. And before the kid could protest, he grabbed his forearm and hauled them both across to the ruined building. The landing was far from smooth, but they were both in one piece at least.

“Come on,” he told the kid, making a mental note to ask him his name as soon as they were safe.

They moved to a hole in the boards and jumped down to ground level. Peaking out of the ruined building, they could see that the coast was relatively clear and Martin beckoned the kid to follow him, making his way across to another ruined building for a bit of cover.

Crouching in the shadow, they watched as the dragon landed in front of the building they just vacated and blasted fire at it. They moved again and after taking a turn, they were at a different square. There were two doorways leading inside the keep but before they could go through either of them, Ralof and the soldier that admonished them on the way to the town to be quiet made their way there. One from each side.

Seeing an argument coming, Martin dragged the kid to the door closest to them. They made it inside and in a few short moments were joined by Ralof who was smirking. Martin raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t ask. Instead, he made his way to a table that had a dagger stuck into it. He took it and used it to cut the bonds on his wrists. Then he turned to the kid to do the same.

“What’s your name?” he asked as he freed his hands.

“Riku,” the kid said softly.

“Well, Riku, I’m Martin.” The building shook. “And we should probably start to look for an escape route…” he added.

“Damn, it’s looked!” Ralof kicked a door on one end of the room they were in.

“Maybe I can help,” Martin said and made his way over.

“How?” Ralof asked. “You got lockpicks or something?”

“Or something,” Martin smirked and placed his hand on the lock. Then muttered the correct words for the unlocking spells and smirked when the lock made a satisfactory click.

“Come on, Riku,” Martin called as he opened the door and made his way inside. Riku hot on his heels. They both ignored the disgusted look Ralof sported at the display of magic. Martin may have not known that much about the province of Skyrim, but he knew that the Nords that inhabited it were not very fond of magic other than restoration spells. And even those were better left to the priests and priestesses.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They escape.
> 
> Apologies if I switched from past to present tense in the middle of this. Not gonna fix that, deal with it. I don't think it takes from the story.   
> Also, sorry if there are mistakes in this, but English is not my first language. Even though it is my preferred language.

Going through several corridors and rooms, they were forced to kill several Empire soldiers that attacked them. Though to be honest, Martin was not all that troubled when they killed the torture master and his assistant. They also found a spellbook in one of the cages in the torture master’s room. Martin tossed it to Riku, deciding that the kid needed something to defend himself with. Riku reluctantly used the spellbook to absorb the knowledge of the spell it held. He may not like to fight, but even he knew it was better to know and never need it instead of needing it and not knowing.

They were about to continue along a corridor when the whole structure shook and suddenly, their way was blocked with rocks. Leaving them only one option – a doorway to the side. It led to another room. This one smaller and instead of empire soldiers, it held two Stormcloaks that were arguing with each other.

Martin left Ralof to deal with them and looked around the room. It was a storage room. Some barrels and sacks here and there. But that wasn’t what caught Martin’s eye. Potions, there were potions on one of the shelves. Not many, only two healing ones and one Magicka potion, but it was still better than nothing. If anything, Martin believed in being prepared. Even overprepared. It was better than to underestimate the enemy and realize that your only option was death.

Still, being a former priest, he knew some decent healing spells and after his stint with the blades and the Hero of Kvatch, he knew even more spells and became quite proficient in fighting with a sword and a bow. So he kept the Magicka potion for himself and gave the healing ones to Riku. The boy was still following him like a duckling and it was, frankly, adorable. Martin smiled to himself as they made their way forward.

Ralof and the two other Stormcloacks caught up to them before they could get too far. And together they followed the passage. Soon, they could hear voices coming from a cavernous room. Martin caught the name General Tullius and something about waiting for him. He would have preferred to avoid the empire soldiers but going through the room was the only way. The choice got taken away from him anyway as the Stormcloacks dashed past him and engaged the Imperials in battle.

“Come on,” Martin said to Riku and with a sigh followed the sounds of battle.

They entered the huge room and saw the Stormcloacks fighting the Imperials. Three against five. Martin spotted one of the Imperials readying a bow to shoot Ralof. But before he could take the shot, Martin summoned a Bound Bow and in one swift motion took aim and shot him in the eye. ‘Thank you, Hero,’ he thought sadly, thinking of his friend from the Oblivion Crisis who spent days, if not weeks or even months teaching him all the spells and skills he picked up on his adventures and while running errands for Martin.

Once the archer was neutralized, the Stormcloacks made a short work of the other Imperials, and soon, the only thing that could be heard was the stream running through the center of the room.

Martin and Riku made their way slowly to the others.

“We should continue before more of them show up,” Martin suggested.

“We will stay here and wait for Jarl Stormcloak,” the two Nords whose names Martin still didn’t know, said.

“Don’t you think it might be possible he escaped through some other means?” Martin had to ask.

“True, but just in case, we will wait here for a time,” said the female Stormcloak.

“Let’s go then,” Martin said and motioned for Riku to follow him as he made his way forward.

Riku hurried to follow him and soon was right behind him.

Ralof said farewell to his fellow Stormcloaks and then had to run to catch up to the two.

As he was crossing a bridge, they all heard a rumble, and Ralof was forced to dive forward to avoid being squashed by a rock slide that blocked the path back.

“Hopefully, those two will be able to find another way out,” Martin said, a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder.

“If they don’t get ambushed by any Imperial scum, they should be fine,” replied Ralof.

“We should keep moving,” he added and made his way past the other two and into the less man-made part of the escape route.

Martin was about to follow together with Riku when he heard some weird clicking noises. Looking around, he saw nothing, only to be surprised when several giant spiders dropped down around Ralof, who was several meters in front of them.

Quickly stopping Riku from getting any closer to the monsters, Martin re-summoned his bound bow and started firing arrow after arrow at the spiders while Ralof started hacking at them with his ax at close range.

“Use that shock spell if you see any getting away,” Martin muttered toward Riku, glancing at him long enough to see him nod and for sparks to start dancing between his fingers. Then he went back to firing spectral arrows at the creatures.

Only a few minutes later, all the spiders were dead and Martin was happy that Riku only had to use his spell once. He would have preferred it if Riku hadn’t needed to use it at all, but at the same time, it was good practice. _Better the kid knows not to hesitate when defending himself,_ he thought.

They continued through the caves without any more trouble until they crossed a small bridge and Ralof suddenly stopped and motioned for them to be quiet. Martin moved closer to see what Ralof saw and spotted a sleeping bear.

“I would prefer not to tangle with her,” Ralof said quietly.

“I agree, we should try to sneak past her,” Martin nodded and motioned for Ralof to go first since he seemed to know where he was going. Martin might not be completely unfamiliar with Skyrim, but this certainly was his first time here. _Let's let the native lead the way,_ he thought. 

Ralof started making his way slowly past the sleeping animal, keeping an eye on her all the while. So far so good. Martin nudged Riku to follow and kept close to the kid just in case while also keeping an eye on the bear. At one point they all froze when she got up and yawned. But she just turned to the other side and went right back to sleep. Martin released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and motioned to Ralof to keep going.

And finally, without any more hiccups, they exited the cave, and Martin could see the black dragon disappearing in the distance.

“Well, there goes that,” he commented. “Now what?”

“Now we split up,” Ralof said. “If you follow this path, you will reach Riverwood,” he motioned. “Ask for Gerdur, if you mention me, she will help you. And after that? Well, maybe I’ll see you in Windhelm.”

And with that, he started down the path and soon disappeared behind a bend.

“Are you going to leave too?” Asked Riku, who was, until now, mostly quiet.

“No, I’m not going to abandon you, don’t worry about that,” Martin smiled at the boy. “We should, however, get moving. We can’t stay here.”

Martin placed his hand on Riku’s back and started leading him down the path toward where Ralof disappeared. Hopefully, they won’t miss this Riverwood that Ralof mentioned. The name certainly didn’t ring any bells for Martin. Windhelm on the other hand… He was sure it was a harbor city located on the eastern coast.

When they rounded the bend, they could see Ralof in the distance. Martin also spotted a road sign not too far ahead and when they got closer to it, he could read Riverwood on it with an arrow pointing in the direction they were walking in.

“Good to know we are walking in the right direction, hum?” Martin smiled at Riku who, somewhere along the way, got a hold of Martin’s tunic and was holding on for dear life.

Martin’s expression softened at that and moved his hand from the kid’s back and ruffled his hair.

They walked in silence the rest of the way and soon they were greeted by an open gate leading into a small, but prospering, village.

“Now to find this Gerdur,” Martin muttered. Spotting a blacksmith nearby, he made his way over, Riku following, and greeted the man.

“What do you need?” Weapons? Armor?” the man asked. It seemed like he didn’t expect people to talk to him for any other reason than to buy or commission equipment…

“Maybe later,” Martin smiled, “but right now, I’m looking for someone named Gerdur, maybe you could point me in the right direction?”

“Try the mill over there,” the man grunted and pointed behind his house. When Martin looked, he could indeed spot a water mill.

“Thank you,” he nodded at the man and started to make his way over.

Only to almost trip over Riku who was flush at his side still.

Martin rolled his eyes and gently pried the kid off of himself only to take a hold of his hand and lead him to the mill where, hopefully, they would find Gerdur. Even though he wasn’t entirely sure why they should… Well, if nothing else, maybe he could at least persuade her to feed the kid, he looked like he hadn’t eaten in ages.

After walking across a wooden bridge, he spotted a woman chopping wood next to the watermill.

“Excuse me, but are you Gerdur?” Martin called to her as he led Riku closer.

The woman left the ax embedded in the stump and turned to them.

“Yes, who’s asking?”

“Do you know Ralof?”

Gerdur’s eyes widened and she motioned for him to continue.

“We just escaped Helgen together after it was attacked by a dragon. He said that you would be able to help us and I’m hoping that if nothing else, you would at least consider feeding Riku here,” Martin motioned to the boy who was still holding on to his hand.

Gerdur took one look at the boy and that was all she needed to herd the two to her house, sit them down and place a bowl of stew in front of each of them.

“Eat,” she simply said. “Anything else can wait after that.

When the bowls were empty and put away to be washed later, Gerdur sat down and looked at Martin seriously.

“Ralof passed through Riverwood just a few short minutes before you. He mentioned you, said you might be coming by and asking for help. Forgot to mention the child though,” she grumbled.

Then she continued.

“He, too, mentioned a dragon. And Riverwood is defenseless against such a beast.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Martin asked, hand instinctively going to grasp the Dragon Amulet through his shirt.

He still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with this new empire but at the same time, he was not going to let innocent civilians suffer if he could do something to help.

“Jarl Balgruuf needs to be warned about the dragon threat. I would go myself, but I can’t leave my son alone and I think the Jarl is more likely to believe you anyway considering you were there and saw that dragon,” she said.

“And where would we find this Jarl?”Martin asked.

“We follow the path through the village and then continue until we see the city called Whiterun.”

It was Riku who answered.

Martin looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I was born here in Skyrim, you know…” Riku pointed out quietly.

“So you were,” Martin nodded with a smile. “At least one of us will be able to find their way around then.”

“Though I might not be much help outside Whiterun and the Rift…” Riku admitted.

“It’s still more than I know. I know the general location of a few of the big cities but that is all.”

“Then I’ll be your guide to the best of my abilities,” Riku smiles and moves to sit closer to Martin on the bench.

“So you’ll do it?” Gerdur interrupts their conversation.

“Of course we will,” Martin answered. “I just wanted to make sure we wouldn’t get lost on the way.”

“Good, thank you,” she sounds relieved.

Martin gets up and Riku follows. But before they can leave, Gerdur sneaks a sweet roll to Riku. Martin watches with an amused smile as Riku thanks her and then they are on their way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3, enjoy. They talk to the Jarl and the wizard.   
> Also, I have three options when it comes to who Martin will end up with. I'll dedicate a chapter to you if you guess any of the three. And only the first correct answer counts. So only three chapters can be dedicated. And, you won't know you guessed right until the chapter dedication. :D I need to keep SOME secrets.  
> Also, if you have a suggestion for the pairing, let me know. But you'll have a hard time coming up with something even better than what I'm leaning toward.

They make their way through the village and then across a bridge. The path leads them through a copse of trees and when they round the final bend, they can see a big city on top of a hill surrounded by farms and a watchtower in the distance.

“I take it this is Whiterun?” Martin looks to Riku for confirmation.

“Yes, and the palace at the very top is called the Dragonsreach, it’s where we need to go to see the Jarl,” Riku says.

Martin nods and they continue walking past farms and what appears to be a meadery and soon they are walking over a drawbridge and towards a closed city gate with two guards standing at attention.

One of them walks forward and stops them.

“City’s closed,” he barks. “Official business only.”

“We have news from Helgen, about the attack,” Martin says and he guard blinks.

“Oh, well that is… I mean… You better go on in then,” he manages and then unlocks the gate and pushes it open for them.

Martin and Riku make their way through and the first thing that they see is a lady wearing a blacksmithing apron that is shouting at a bunch of soldiers. The soldiers are shouting back just as loud.

“What do you think that is all about?” Riku asks Martin.

“If my guess is right, they want her to make weapons for the war effort and she’s not comfortable handling such a big order all by herself.”

Riku nods and they continue past the shouting match and through a square with market stalls. Then up the stairs and past a tree that seems to be dying. Then up more stairs and soon they are standing in front of the doorway leading to Dragonsreach and the Jarl.

“Ready?” Martin asks.

“Not really,” Riku admits but pushes the door open anyway.

They walk in but before they manage more than ten steps, they are interrupted by a Dunmer woman with a sword in her hand.

“Halt!” she barks. “What is the meaning of this interruption?!”

Martin thinks for a few seconds before answering.

“Riverwood calls for help due to the dragon attacks and we also have news from Helgen,” he explains patiently to the woman.

“Well, in that case, the Jarl will want to speak with you, approach,” she says and sheats her sword.

Martin and Riku walk past two long tables and stop in front of a man sitting in a massive chair. There’s another man nearby, this one, Martin notices, of Imperial origin.

“Jarl Balgruuf?” Martin adressed the man in the chair.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “So, what is this about a dragon in Helgen?”

“I am still not sure why I ended up in Helgen,” Martin started explaining, “but soon after a dragon appeared. A black one with glowing red eyes. It destroyed Helgen and there is a big chance that Riverwood might be next. Gerdur, she runs the mill there, asked us to ask you for help in defending the village.”

“By Ysmir, Irileth was right,” Balgruuf exclaimed and then turned to said Dunmer woman.

“Send troops to Riverwood, immediately!” he ordered.

“Yes, my Jarl,” she nodded and was about to go and fulfill the order when the Imperial whose name Martin and Riku still didn’t know interrupted them.

“My Jarl, are you sure this decision is wise? The Jarl of Falkreath might see this as a provocation and assume we’re preparing to join the Stormcloaks in their rebellion against the empire.”

“At this point, the Stormcloaks might be a better choice than the empire…” muttered Martin. The only one who heard him was Riku who pressed close to him.

“No, Proventus,” the Jarl said firmly, “I won’t stand by and watch my people be slaughtered by a dragon! Send the troops, Irileth.”

The last part was directed at the woman who nodded and sprinted out of the hall to do her Jarl’s bidding.

“I shall return to my duties,” a fuming Proventus stated.

“That would be best,” Balgruuf nodded and the Imperial left their presence.

“So what happens now?” Martin asked. And though the question was directed to the Jarl in front of him, he was also asking somebody else. Hoping that the dragon god was listening and would shed some light on the whole situation. Because so far, it made little to no sense for him to be here. In Skyrim. And as much as he liked being alive and not dying a sacrificial death to stop Dagon from crossing over, he wanted things to make sense again. Like they did before Kvatch burned.

But the god remained silent.

“Well, you did me and Whiterun a service. And I reward those who help me and mine. More so those who do it of their own free will. So take this as a thank you.” He tossed a bag of coins to Martin who managed to catch it.

“There is something else though,” the Jarl continued after a short pause in which Martin pocketed the gold. “If you would be willing.”

“I’m not saying no, Jarl, but I would prefer to know what I’m getting myself into before I agree to anything,” answered Martin.

“Will it involve fighting?” Riku asked.

The Jarl startled. Looking as if he just saw the kid for the first time even though he was there all along.

“This might complicate things,” he admitted. “But since you haven’t completely denied me, how about we go see my court sorcerer and he can tell you more before you make your final decision.”

Martin agreed and they followed Balgruuf into a side chamber where a robed man was leaning over an enchanting table. Martin had never seen one before, only hearing about them. That was not surprising considering enchanting worked very differently back in Cyrodiil. Curious, he moved closer to the table and incidentally the man himself as well. Riku followed him.

But before they could get any closer, Balgruuf interrupted the silence with his booming voice.

“Farengar!”

The mage turned and looked slightly startled at the number of people in his study.

“What is it my Jarl?”

“These two might be willing to go on your quest, but they require more information. And considering one of them is a child, don’t be too hard on them if they decide to turn you down after you explain to them what needs to be done.”

And with that said, the Jarl left the study.

“So, what is it that you need us to do?” Martin asked.

“Hum, you’re different than the usual men the Jarl sends my way… But that is not the point. What I need is for someone to fetch something for me. Well, I say fetch but what I really mean is delving into an ancient ruin and finding an ancient stone tablet that may or may not be there. It is related to my research of dragons and dragon lore. It is located in Bleak Falls Barrow, the ruin is on top of a mountain west of Riverwood.”

“We will need to discuss this before we decide. So if you could give us several minutes?” Martin told Farengar after the mage explained what this quest was about.

“Very well, I need to get another book from the library anyway. I expect an answer when I return,” Farengar agreed and left the study.

“So what do you think,” Martin asked Riku.

“I don’t want to, but at the same time I feel like we need to do it…” Riku answered.

“True,” Martin nodded.

“Do you think that maybe the Aedra want us to do it?” Riku asked.

Martin’s hand went instinctively to the Dragon Amulet hidden under his tunic.

“You know something,” Riku stated when he saw this.

Chuckling weakly, Martin said: “Not really, I just know that Akatosh is involved somehow. Because this is all his fault anyway. I might tell you more when there’s no chance to be overheard.”

“We’ll need armor…” Riku said after a moment of silence.

“True, the last time I fought I was wearing a priest’s robes and it didn’t end all that well…”

“You were a priest?”

“I blame Akatosh,” Martin said and then he turned to the doorway and nodded to Farengar who finally returned.

“So, are you going to do it or do I need to find somebody else?” the mage asked.

“Yes, but first we need to acquire some armor,” Martin said.

“Then why are you still here?” Farengar made a shooing motion with his hand.

Martin raised an eyebrow but lead Riku out of the room anyway.

“That was rude,” Riku said quietly, grabbing Martin’s hand again.

“True, but he’s a court wizard, they are a prickly sort. Not easy to get along with and always rather rude,” Martin smiled as they exited Dragonsreach.

“Are we going to buy armor from the lady blacksmith that was arguing with the Imperials?” Riku asked.

Before Martin could answer, he felt a presence in his mind. He smiled slightly. _So Akatosh decided to show himself after all._

The dragon grumbled good-naturedly in his mind before answering.

_“Before you go spending your gold, go outside the city and find the place where the stream leaves the walls. It’s the last gift I can give you for a while if I don’t want to upset the balance, but you’ve grown on me and I prefer you alive. There’s something for your young companion too. Good luck and I’ll talk to you as soon as the other Aedra allow me.”_

The last part was muttered in a dark tone that very much said what the Dragon God thought of it.

 _Thank you,_ Martin smiled fondly. Akatosh was his source of hope during the time the Hero was gallivanting all over Cyrodiil fulfilling his tasks. And Martin loved it when the Dragon God had a few minutes every now and then to answer him.

Martin felt invisible fingers caress his cheek and his smile grew wider. And then the presence withdrew and they were alone again. Riku was looking at him weirdly but he simply couldn’t help it.

At this point, they walked past Warmaiden’s, the blacksmith shop, and toward the gate leading outside.

“I thought we were going to guy armor?” Riku asked confused as they exited the city.

“Do you want to know why I was just grinning?” Martin asked instead, looking for where the stream was leaving the city and finding it not far.

“Because you realized we were going to die on this mission and you lost it?” Riku suggested cheekily.

“No, because we have a guardian god.”

“An Aedra spoke to you?” Riku asked wide-eyed.

“Akatosh did,” Martin answered as they reached the correct place. He let go of Riku’s hand and went to the badly hidden chest that looked like it has seen better days. Martin wouldn’t have thought this was it if not for the small dragon engraving near the locking mechanism.

“What’s in there?” Riku came closer.

“Don’t know yet,” Martin said and then opened the chest.

Inside was a set of lightweight armor that seemed to be in Martin’s size. It was pitch black. Then there was a smaller set of black leather armor, this time with a few silver details. Both of the armors had a small dragon on the breastplate.

Riku looked at the dragon designs.

“Does this make us the Knights of Akatosh?” he asked.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, but at the same time, I would prefer to keep the fact we have a god supporting us to this degree to ourselves for now. So if anyone asks, we are just devout followers and this is our way of expressing it.”

“Okay,” Riku nodded.

They put the armor on and Martin checked if there way anything else in the chest. And sure enough, there was a dagger and a short sword.

“Is that ebony?” Riku exclaimed.

“Looks like it,” Martin confirmed and then offered the dagger hilt-first to Riku.

“You need something to protect yourself if the enemy gets too close and I’m not able to help you,” Martin explained when Riku didn’t immediately take it.

“Alright.”

Martin sent another thank you to Akatosh and felt the god’s presence for a brief moment before it was gone again.

“Let’s go,” Martin said and they set off towards Riverwood where they would spend the night. Bleak Falls Barrow could wait until morning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bleak falls. The first part at least.
> 
> And sorry for the delay.

After a climb up a mountain, they were finally standing at the foot of the structure known as the Bleak Falls Barrow. Before they could start climbing up the stairs leading to the entrance though, an arrow whizzed past them.

“Looks like we have company,” Martin commented.

He summoned his Bound Bow – still very grateful that the Hero taught him this spell – took aim and shot a bandit that was charging at them. Riku, meanwhile, was hiding behind a pillar and flinging shock spells at the archer that surprised them. So far, it didn’t seem to have much effect, but at least the archer was forced to dodge every few seconds, thus making it hard for him to aim his bow.

Martin glanced Riku’s way and decided that he was holding his own quite well for now and then turned towards the third and last bandit that was charging at him. He dodged out of the way of a fire spell and dismissed his bow, drawing his sword with one hand and casting a magic ward spell with the other instead. The ward wouldn’t hold against anything too powerful but from what he saw so far, these bandits only knew a few of the basic spells.

The bandit swung his ax at Martin and he sidestepped the swing, slashing and managing to catch the bandit on the arm. It was only a small wound but it made the bandit angry and even more predictable.

Martin dodged out of the way of another swing of the ax and dropped the ward. Instead, he charged a strong fire spell, the Magnetic Flux. Another one the Hero taught him, claiming it was the most powerful fire spell there was. And yet, he never learned where the Hero learned it.

Instead of dodging the next swing, Martin let the spell fly and it hit its intended target full force, forcing him to stagger back, screaming in pain as he was engulfed in a fiery storm. Martin kept the fire going until the bandit dropped dead and then let it fade away.

Letting himself catch his breath for a second or two, Martin then turned toward where Riku and the last bandit were still going at it. Both were panting, Riku from exhaustion, and the bandit from being singed in several places. Martin wanted to just re-summon his Bound Bow and finish the bandit, but at the same time, he knew that with the war going on and now the dragon, Riku would be forced to kill sooner or later. And right here, right now, at least he wouldn’t have to go through it alone. So he got ready to step in if it became necessary to protect the kid but waited to see what would happen first.

He didn’t have to wait long. He saw the glint of an idea in Riku’s eyes, saw his right hand go for the dagger, and understood what was going to happen. And just as expected, when the bandit dodged the latest lightning, he dodged it directly into the path of a flying ebony dagger that embedded itself in his throat.

Riku slumped down, exhausted and Martin made his way over to him, retrieving the dagger on the way.

“How are you holding up?” he asked the kid.

“I… I don’t know…” Riku admitted.

“That’s normal. And unlike me, you at least have a chance to process what just happened.”

“What do you mean?” Riku looked up at him.

“My first kill was after I escaped Kvatch with the Hero. We have just arrived at Weynon Priory and it was overrun with Mythic Dawn assassins and while they were enemies, they also were, in the end, just people. However, the way those events played out, I simply didn’t have a chance to process things…” Martin explained.

“So what happens now?” asked Riku.

“Now you tell me, honestly, if you are ready to continue or not.”

Riku thought about it for a moment before replying.

“I think I’ll be okay as long as I’m with you.”

“Alright,” Martin nodded, handed Riku his dagger back, and when the boy put it back in its sheath, he offered a hand to him. Riku grasped it and let Martin pull him to his feet.

Then they turned toward the entrance to the barrow and started walking.

Martin slowly pushed the gate open and they slipped inside. The entry hall was a huge cavern-like room with a high ceiling and partially crumbled pillars to support it. In the distance, they could see a small campfire and several voices drifted over.

“More bandits,” Martin guessed based on the conversation.

“I’m ready,” Riku said in response, steely resolve in his voice.

“Alright, let’s get closer,” Martin nodded, and slowly, they crept forward, hiding In the shadows.

“One of them has a bow,” Riku commented when they were close enough to see their enemies.

“Do you want to take him on or do you prefer I take him down?” Martin asked quietly.

“If you would…” Riku trailed off uncertainly.

“Sure,” Martin nodded.

Then he summoned his Bound Bow and let an arrow fly at the bandit woman with the bow. This, of course, gave away his position, but he managed to fire off one more shot and taking down the other bandit, thus ending the combat before it even properly started.

“Look, chest,” Riku suddenly pointed.

“Let’s see what’s inside,” Martin nodded.

Riku happily skipped to the chest and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge.

“Let me?” Martin let a spell dance in his hand.

“Oh, the unlocking spell?” Riku smiled.

“Yes,” Martin said and touched the lock with his hand and muttered the correct word.

The lock clicked open and Riku eagerly opened the chest.

Iside were a few gold coins as well as several steel arrows.

“Teach me how to shoot?” Riku asked as he grabbed the arrows.

“Sure,” Martin nodded and then went to loot the bow from the female bandit.

After showing Riku how to properly hold the bow and how to nock the arrow, they continued down the corridor and deeper into the barrow.

A short few turns and twists later, they saw a man going down a corridor. Before they could decide if it was better to just follow from a distance or outright kill him, as he was definitely with the bandits they eliminated in the first room, the man entered a chamber and pulled a lever located in the middle of it.

Immediately, darts shot from hidden contraptions around the room and killed the man before he could so much as blink in shock.

“Guess we need a different lever to open the gate…” muttered a shocked Riku.

“I think it’s going to be a little more complicated than that…” Martin answered as they stepped into the chamber.

“Why?” Riku asked.

“Look there,” Martin pointed to the side where there were three pillars that looked like they could be turned. “I think you need to put them in the correct combination before pulling the lever.”

“But what is that combination?”

Martin looked around the room, thinking. At first, nothing seemed like it could hold the answer they needed.

“Look!” Martin was interrupted by Riku’s shout. “I found a healing potion!”

Martin looked up at where Riku was standing by an ancient bookshelf. And then he saw it.

“And I think I have the answer to the puzzle.

“Really?”

“Yes, look here,” Martin pointed when the boy joined him again. “See the heads? The symbols on them correspond to the symbols on the pillars. One head is missing, but if you look, you can see that it’s just fallen down. The symbol on it is still legible. So, the correct answer is Snake, Snake, and a Fish.”

“Okay,” nodded Riku and made his way to the pillars and started turning them.

“Done?” Martin asked after a moment.

“Yes!”

“Then now it’s the moment of truth.” He turned toward the lever and pulled it.

The gate slid up, letting them through.

They continued walking through and after rounding a corner, they could see a chest sitting in a corner of the chamber. On the other side was a way down to a lower level of the barrow.

“Do you think it’s locked?” Riku asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Martin answered.

Riku nodded and skipped to the chest. He tried to open it and it did. Easily. Peering inside, he saw a few gold pieces, a weird looking gem, and a dagger.

“Anything interesting?” Martin wondered over.

“There’s some gold, a weird gem, and a dagger. Looks like steel,” Riku answered.

“Weird gem?” Martin asked.

“Yeah… Look,” he held the gem out to Martin who took it and examined it.

“Looks like a soul gem,” he said after a while. “The Hero would always carry at least fifteen of those on him at any given time, sometimes more.”

He pocketed the gem and looked at the dagger.

“Definitely steel. Do you want it? You could use it as a throwing weapon,” he offered.

“I’ll keep it as a backup for now,” Riku decided and strapped it on the opposite side of the ebony dagger.

They continued and after descending a spiral walkway and killing a giant rat Riku said was called a skeever, they could hear a voice shouting not too far ahead of them.

“Is… Is that you guys?! Did you f-follow me after a-… H… Help! It’s coming back! Please somebody kill it!”

“Kill what?” Riku whispered.

“We’ll find out,” Martin answered. “Let’s go.”

They continued forward and found themselves facing a thickly spun spiderweb blocking their way.

“Know any fire spells?” Martin asked Riku.

“No, the only spell I know is that lightning spell I learned recently,” answered Riku. “Do you know any?”

“You’ve seen one in action already,” Martin answered.

“Oh…” Riku looked sheepish.

“But it’s a bit showy. I’m thinking that maybe we should just cut through the web. That way, it’s less likely that whatever is on the other side will immediately know our presence.”

“Okay,” Riku pulled out his dagger and set to work.

Martin joined him with his sword and after a minute or so of hacking at the webs, they created an opening big enough for them to slip through without getting tangled in the webs.

Martin looked around but at first, couldn’t see any possible enemy. The only thing he could see was a man caught in a web blocking the doorway to the next passage.

“Above us!” Riku suddenly shouted and Martin had just enough time to step out of the way of a gigantic spider that dropped from an opening in the ceiling.

Martin wasted no time summoning his magic and unleashing a torrent of fire at the spider. It shrieked and charged at him, but he managed to jump out of the way at the last moment, slashing at one of the spider’s legs in the process. In the meantime, Riku charged his own spell and hit the spider from behind. It turned and started advancing toward him, but stopped and turned back to Martin when he shot it with his Bound Bow. He let the bow dissipate and then unleashed the Magnetic Flux again. This time from both his hands for even more burning power. e HH

The spider reared back, shrieking and tried to evade the fire, but Martin followed it.

And while all that was happening, Riku got an idea. He took out the bow he just recently got and nocked an arrow. Then, he charged his lightning spell and engulfed the arrow with it. He took careful aim, deciding on the upper body instead of the legs or even the head, as he was not yet that good a shot, and let the arrow fly.

The arrow went slightly off course but luckily didn’t miss completely. Instead of hitting the torso, it actually hit the head of the beast. It effectively fried the monster’s brain, thus killing it.

“Nice shot,” Martin said as he canceled his spells and watched the spider drop to the ground.

“I was aiming for the torso though,” Riku admitted.

“Just call it a lucky shot for now. I’m sure that soon, you’ll be able to make a shot like that on purpose. Good idea with the lightning spell on the arrow. Sometimes, I wish I had an actual bow as spells like that don’t work with a Bound Bow.”

“Okay.” Riku nodded and smiled at Martin.

Then he went to retrieve his arrow.

“Well, that’s great, but can you cut me down now?” an annoyed voice spoke from the spiderweb.

The duo turned to the trapped man.

“Should we?” Riku asked.

“Can’t move forward with that web in the way anyway,” Martin answered and lifted one hand to again summon the fire and burn through the web.

“Well, that’s definitely faster than trying to cut through it,” Riku commented.

“Yes, but it also gives away your position more easily.”

Before any of them could say anything else, the web was destroyed and the man dropped to the ground. He was still for a split second, but then bolted down the corridor.

“The treasure will be all mine!” they could hear him shouting.

“He’ll get himself killed…” Martin deadpanned.

“Shouldn’t we follow him?” Riku asked.

“I’m not going to run blindly after him. That’s the best way to get yourself killed,” Martin announced and started walking in the direction the man bolted to.

“Okay,” shrugged Riku and followed after Martin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Magnetic Flux is a real spell. Not sure if it's canon or modded. Probably modes. But I'm not gonna go and find out from which mod it is. I have over 150 mods in my Skyrim and I'm not touching that with a ten-foot pole. But yeah, the spell is not mine, I just love it so I'm borrowing it.
> 
> Also, I found a transcript of the game so a sentence here and there is directly from the game.   
> And I had to replay the Bleak Falls Barrow dungeon. Because the transcript only has dialogue. And I forgot to add the pillar puzzle. So I had to go back and insert it there. After playing it as I had no idea where in the dungeon it was.  
> So now I have like an A4 of bullet points of how the dungeon goes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay.  
> Bleak Falls Barrow - Part 2. Hope you like it. :)  
> Also, made a banner for this story. Well, spliced together. :D

Instead of running after the bandit, the duo followed at a more sedate pace. They walked through one or two empty rooms and soon after that, they could hear screaming. Then a weird _thud_ and silence interrupted only by the occasional heavy breathing-like sound.

“What do you think that is? Could it be true that the dead don’t stay dead after all?” Riku asked.

“Possible, though what kind of dead, that’s hard to tell just from the sound. Definitely not skeletons though, I know what those sound like,” Martin said.

“It also looks like our bandit friend met his end there,” he added after a moment.

Then he motioned for Riku to quietly follow and they entered the room the sounds were coming from.

“What exactly are those?” Martin asked.

“Draugr, if the legends are correct,” Riku answered and took out his bow.

“Hm… Step back, I think,” he said and when Riku did, he summoned his fire spell again and burned two out of the three Draugr before they even spotted the intruders.

Meanwhile, Riku nocked an arrow and took aim at the remaining Draugr. This time trying to aim directly for the head. He charged his arrow with his lightning spell again as it proved quite deadly, and shot. Unfortunately, this time it missed. Well, not completely, it still managed to graze the enemy, but it didn’t do much damage.

Riku didn’t try shooting again, instead, he attacked with only the spell. It was definitely easier to aim that way and the Draugr was having trouble advancing with all the lightning going his way. It didn’t stop him completely though.

Soon, Riku was forced to start moving back to avoid direct confrontation. Thankfully, Martin finished his two enemies and turned to the commotion that was Riku and the last Draugr.

Not bothering with spells or his bound bow this time, Martin drew his sword and made his way behind the advancing Draugr and then, with a single powerful strike, decapitated him.

“Thanks,” Riku grinned as he canceled the spell.

“Nice work keeping him busy,” Martin answered with his own grin.

They grinned at each other for a few more seconds before Riku spotted something.

“Is that the bandit?” he pointed toward the crumpled body.

“Looks like it,” Martin nodded and made his way over.

Then he abruptly stopped and held out his arm to prevent Riku from advancing too.

“What is it?” Riku asked.

“See that raised stone?” Martin pointed.

“Yes?” Riku answered, confused.

“Don’t step on it, it’s probably what killed our friend here,” Martin explained and carefully made his way around the stone toward the dead body.

“Okay,” Riku nodded and followed in Martin’s footsteps.

Martin kneeled next to the body and started looking for whatever the bandit didn’t want to give up. He found a journal and a strange looking golden contraption that looked like a claw?

“What the heck is this?” he muttered to himself.

Riku heard him anyway.

“What’s what?” he asked.

“This,” Martin handed him the thing.

“Huh…” was the boy’s very intelligent reply.

“Hold on to it?” Martin suggested as he opened the journal.

“Sure…” Riku nodded and stuffed the thing in his satchel.

“Huh…”

This time, it was Martin.

“What now?” Riku asked and tried to peek into the journal Martin was reading.

“It seems the claw might actually be a key to a puzzle-lock of some sort…” he explained.

“But where’s the lock then?” Riku asked.

“Probably further in the barrow,” Martin guessed.

“Then let's go!”

“Sure,” Martin smiled and they continued on.

Soon, they reached a room similar to the one they found their bandit in. And again, they encountered three Draugr in there. Their previous tactic proved useful this time too. What more, Riku’s shot didn’t miss so the third Draugr was dead a lot sooner than before.

And then the boy got to watch Martin frying the other two Draugr with his Magnetix Flux.

“You _will_ teach me that spell, right?” Riku hedged when all the enemies in the room were dead. Well, dead again.

“First, you have to practice to increase your reserves of Magicka. Right now, you simply don’t have enough to cast such a spell for more than a second or two,” Martin explained.

“And then?”

“Then, I’ll teach you,” Martin promised. “Right now, though, I’m interested in that chest over there.”

He pointed to a ruined staircase. And sure enough, there was a chest there, half-buried in the rubble, but still visible, if one looked close enough.

“I’ll see if it’s open,” Riku was about to bolt toward it.

“If not, concentrate your magic on the lock and say this,” Martin suggested and whispered a word to Riku.

“Is that?” the boy asked.

“Yes, it is,” Martin confirmed.

Riku happily skipped to the chest and tried to open it. This time grinning ear to ear when it didn’t. He focused his magic and placed his hand on the lock like he’s seen Martin do several times already. Then he whispered the word and nodded to himself when the lock clicked open.

He opened the chest and peered inside. Unfortunately, the only things inside were a rusty old shield and an iron mace.

“Do we want a shield or a mace?” Riku called.

“Not really,” Martin said. “Unless you want to switch to heavy weaponry?” Martin teased him.

“Not really,” Riku echoed Martin’s earlier words.

“Then let’s go,” Martin said and they turned toward the room’s exit passageway.

The only problem was that it was blocked by three wildly swinging axes.

“Well, that’s not good,” muttered Martin.

“No, look,” Riku pointed.

But Martin simply didn’t understand what the boy was pointing out to him.

When Riku realized Martin didn’t know what he meant, he explained.

“I could crawl through, the axes don’t reach all the way down and the very sides look like they could have enough room for me. Maybe there’s a way to stop them from the other side.”

“I don’t like it, but it may be our only option,” Martin answered after he thought it over.

“But! And don’t argue with me on this,” he said when he saw the boy about to do so, “you will be very careful and before you crawl from under the axes, you make sure there’s no enemy there, okay?”

“Okay,” Riku agreed. Then he removed his bow and arrows and handed them to Martin.

“Hold onto these for me? They would get in the way.”

“Of course, just be careful,” Martin took the offered things.

Then Riku got on the ground and started to slowly crawl through the corridor. He kept close to the side and carefully moved forward as the axes swung above him. Thankfully, he was small enough that there was still quite some distance between him and the axes.

On the other side, he carefully checked if the area was clear of any enemies and luckily for him, it was. So he crawled out from under the axes and stood up. Then he looked around himself to see if there was a way to stop the axes. Even if only for a little while.

After a few seconds, he spotted a pull-chain.

“Found something,” he called to Martin.

“What is it?”

“A pull-chain, should I pull it?” Riku asked.

“Yes,” Martin agreed.

Riku did and the axes slowed until they stopped. When Martin saw that, he quickly made his way to the other side.

“Good job,” he ruffled Riku’s hair and then handed him back his bow and arrows.

They continued walking deeper into the barrow, but when they were bout to round a corner, Martin quickly pulled Riku back, as a torrent of ice blew past them.

“That’s new…” Martin commented.

“What was that?” squeaked Riku, subconsciously grabbing onto Martin.

“A Draugr that can wield magic,” replied Martin, gently ruffling Riku’s hair.

“Stay hidden,” he added and then stepped around the corner to face the enemy, both hands blazing with fiery magic.

When the Draugr spotted Martin, it immediately unleashed a torrent of ice in his direction. Martin dodged to the side, but even still, he could feel the cold of the spell.

He always hated ice spells. If used correctly, they could slow an opponent to a crawl. Thankfully, the only time he was on receiving end of those (until now) was when he and the Hero decided to spar during one of the slower moments at Cloud Ruler Temple and the Hero decided that it wasn’t cold enough there, unleashing torrents of ice one after another.

When the Draugr was about to unleash another frosty spell, Martin decided that enough was enough. And he let the fire burn. Magnetic Flux unleashed from both his hands and soon there was a raging inferno where the Draugr used to be. Martin _really_ didn’t like ice magic.

“You can come out now,” he called to Riku when the inferno died out and all that was left was a disfigured corpse of the Draugr.

“That was scary,” Riku admitted quietly.

“What was?” Martin looked at him.

“You,” Riku said. “I’m glad we’re on the same side.”

“Well, I simply hate ice spells, if you must know.” Martin winked at him before they continued on their way.

Soon, they reached a room that looked a little less man-made and a bit more natural. Maybe it was the stream that cut through it right down the middle? Must have been.

“Look! Another chest!” Riku pointed and immediately made his way to it.

But Martin was eyeing something else entirely. A standing sarcophagus off to the side of the room. For some reason, it looked like it might burst open at any given moment. Just to be safe, he summoned his bound bow and got ready to shoot. This proved to be a good thing because the moment Riku opened the chest, a Draugr burst out of there.

Before it could make a single move, however, it got a spectral arrow between the eyes and crumpled down.

“Wha…?” Riku turned around only to see a dead Draugr.

“You have to be more careful. Look around the area before proceeding,” Martin gently scolded him.

“I’m sorry,” Riku bowed his head.

“Just be a little more careful next time, okay?”

Riku nodded and received a smile for it.

“So, what was in the chest?” he asked the boy.

“Not much, another of those soul gems and then a bunch of empty wine bottles of all things,” Riku said. Then he handed the soul gem to Martin.

“Who would have thought that the Draugr like wine,” Martin joked as he put the gem away.

“Maybe that’s why they’re attacking us? Because they hope to loot some wine off fo our bodies?” Riku smirked.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go with that,” laughed Martin.

They moved to the gate blocking their way forward. There was a pull-chain right next to it and Riku pulled it. The gate slid up and they moved forward. The walls changed drastically. It was no longer man-made, but a natural cavern that had a stream running through it. The area was illuminated by some weird jellyfish-like things on the walls. Martin couldn’t decide if it were plants or actual living creatures. Well, at least they provided light, right?

After only several steps in, they happened upon a skeleton that held a pickaxe in its hand. An ore vein right next to the unfortunate miner. But they ignored it. Neither of them wanting to lug around heavy ore. Though Martin thought he would have if it was ebony. Iron, however, was common enough that it was easier to buy in a shop. If he really wanted some.

Their path turned right and Riku swiped a healing potion that was sitting forgotten on a ledge.

After two or three more twists and turns, they entered an area that had natural lighting. The ceiling broken and letting sunlight in. And on a walkway, well, there was a Draugr waiting for them.

It stood no chance. Immediately after spotting it, Martin unleashed a torrent of fire that was followed by a lightning arrow from Riku. Both attacks found their mark and the Draugr fell from the ledge and all they could hear was a sickening crunch of bones breaking.

Riku looked down from the ledge the Draugr fell from.

“Hey! There’s a chest down there,” he said.

“Do you want to go down and check it?” Martin asked.

“Yeah!”

Riku immediately ran down to the bottom where the chest was sitting next to a waterfall. He was half-way down when he realized that Martin was not following him. He looked up and indeed, Martin was still up there.

“You’re not coming?” he called up.

“There’s nothing down there but the chest. No need for both of us to go,” Martin replied while keeping a careful eye on the way forward. Just in case something decided to show up.

Riku continued down and made his way to the chest. He tried to open it and it did, with a little creaking. Riku peered inside and smirked. He looked up, but Martin wasn’t looking down. His smirk widened and grabbed his find, carefully hiding it so that Martin wouldn’t spot it right away.

Then he made his way back up.

“Anything interesting down there?” Martin asked when Riku was standing in front of him, hands clasped behind his back.

“Yup,” he answered. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?” Martin cocked his head to the side.

“You’ll see,” Riku grinned up at him.

“Okay…” sighed Martin, but closed his eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boss fight. 'Nuff said. So, enjoy!

Riku stood on his tiptoes and reached up. Martin felt something settle on his head. It felt like some sort of a crown or a circlet.

“You can open your eyes now,” Riku said, stepping back a little.

Martin did and reached up to touch the thing. It definitely seemed like a circlet. He took it off just to look at it and was not surprised to, indeed, find a circlet. What did surprise him was how finely it was crafted as well as the fact it was made from ebony. One of the rarest metals on Nirn.

“Do you like it?” Riku asked.

“You know what? Yes, I do,” Martin answered and placed the circlet back onto his head.

“Should we continue?” He then nodded toward the passage where the natural cavern again changed into a man-made structure.

Riku nodded and they started walking again. It only took them two turns to reach a bigger hall. There was a lot of rubble on the ground and a pillar seemed to have fallen over. On the other side of the chamber was a doorway guarded by a Draugr that hasn’t noticed them yet.

Martin motioned for Riku to be quiet and Riku nodded, spotting the Draugr too.

Slowly, they crept forward until they reached a spot they could comfortably shoot from without being seen right away.

“You take the first shot, my bound bow is a bit too visible,” Martin whispered.

Riku nodded and nocked an arrow. Then he took aim and let it fly. It didn’t hit exactly the way Riku wanted but it was still a good solid shot to the upper torso. The Draugr staggered and let out a howl of pain. While it was distracted, Martin summoned his weapon and fired a shot of his own. This one nailed the Draugr in the neck. If it were a living being, it would have been dead on the spot, but unfortunately, the Draugr survived still. At least it was in even more pain than before. 

They both took aim again and let their arrows fly. This time, they both hit the Draugr in the head, killing it. Not even the undead can survive when the brain is destroyed.

Riku tried to retrieve his arrows, but they were both no longer usable. He hoped to find more soon. He was starting to run low on them.

They continued on through the doorway and found themselves in a long hallway with engravings on all the walls. To Martin, it seemed like ancient history was written there. Unfortunately, most of the engravings were destroyed by the passage of time.

An ornate door awaited them on the other side of the hallway. It was made of stone with three consecutive rings that looked like they could be turned. In the middle was a fourth ring, more of a circle really, that was made from a different material. Upon closer inspection, it looked like gold. Possibly mixed with something else. There were also three weird looking holes in the gold circle.

“Any idea on how to open it?” Riku asked.

“Hm…” Martin mused, still looking at the door.

“Are you even listening?” Riku complained.

“Of course I am,” Martin answered, ruffling his hair. “I think this is the puzzle door the bandit’s journal talked about. Do you still have that golden claw we took from him?”

“Yeah…” Riku took it out of his satchel, confused.

“May I?” Martin reached for it.

“Sure,” Riku handed it over.

Martin studied it closely, looking between the claw and the door several times.

“I think I got it,” he said after a while.

Then he started to turn the rings on the door.

“See these?” He pointed to the small engravings on the stone rings.

Riku nodded.

“They correspond to the pictures on the inside of the golden claw,” Martin explained. “We just have to turn the rings to get the correct combination and then…”

Martin turned the last ring to the correct picture – the Owl – and then inserted the claw into the middle ring. He turned it and then stepped back as the rings turned several times on their own. Then settled on a new combination and the whole doorway started to slowly sink into the ground.

“Shal we?” Martin motioned forward when the doorway was finished sinking.

“Yeah, hopefully, the Dragonstone will be there,” Riku agreed and they stepped forward.

The structure again changed from man-made to mostly natural. Though still with some marks left by humans or humanoids. Martin and Riku crossed a small bridge over a stream and walked up several steps to a sarcophagus and a giant chest.

While Martin was inspecting those, Riku found himself drawn toward a wall off to the side. As he got closer, his head started pounding, yet he found himself unable to stop. He reached the wall and fell to his knees. He must have blacked out for a second because Martin was suddenly yelling at him to move. Then several things happened at once.

First was the sound of stone breaking. The second was him suddenly knowing that FUS meant force. Whatever that was supposed to be. The third was the sound of Martin’s fire spell and the fourth and last was a sensation of being weightless. Then immense pain as his body slammed into stone.

Martin watched in horror as Riku slammed into a stone wall and gone completely limp. He knew what the Draugr did. The action unlocking something in his brain. Ancient knowledge, something that must have been done by Akatosh himself. Yet, he didn’t pay it much mind besides the fact that he needed to end this fight as fast as possible and then see to Riku.

He switched the Magnetic Flux into his left hand and drew his sword. Pouring even more Magicka into his spell, he managed to stagger the Draugr who was now focused on him instead of the unmoving form of Riku. Martin drew his sword and sprinted toward the enemy. He dodged the Draugr’s sword swing and gripped his own with both hands, channeling the spell through it. Just like Riku did with his arrows. Then he brought the weapon down in a powerful strike.

The Draugr managed to dodge most of the blow, but Martin was sporting satisfied smirk as one of the Draugr’s arms hit the floor, completely severed from the body. Unfortunately, it was not the arm holding the sword and Martin was forced to quickly get out of the way of another swing. This time, the Draugr managed to draw blood, inflicting a small wound on his upper arm.

Martin winced but worked through the pain. And then he saw the Draugr taking a deep breath. Knowing what was coming, he dived out of the way and thanked whatever deity was listening, that Riku was on the other side and therefore out of the line of fire.

_“Don’t thank me, no need,”_ he got an answer. From Akatosh, who else. “ _Just don’t use the ability you now know you have before the kid does it for the very first time. Or I get scolded big time! You weren’t supposed to know yet.”_

Martin smiled and charged the Draugr again. Not wasting the precious seconds when the Draugr’s throat recuperated. Gripping his sword with both hands, Martin changed his spellcasting. His left hand still held the Magnetic Flux but his right now had a Lightning Storm. A spell that, for some reason, the Hero had a hard time mastering. And yet, Martin got it within an hour. Maybe because the Hero loved ice spells?

With both spells dancing across the blade, he twisted around the Draugr’s blade as it tried to impale Martin. Then he spun around and while the Draugr was off-balance, performed a powerful downward strike, hitting the skull and splitting it in two.

The two spells created a powerful mixture together and reduced what was left of the Draugr to ash before it even hit the floor.

For several seconds Martin just stood there, panting and feeling completely drained. Then he remembered Riku and quickly made his way to him. There was some blood pooling underneath him, but surprisingly, it wasn’t nearly as much as Martin feared. But Martin was also certain that Riku’s back would be bruised beyond belief. Hopefully, nothing would be broken.

Knowing his Magicka levels were too low right now to be of any help, Martin quickly searched through his satchel and found a small blue potion. He was sure it wouldn’t be enough, but then he also remembered that Riku should have at least two healing potions on him right now.

He took Riku’s satchel and opened it. Looking through the contents, he found what he was looking for and more. He took two out of the three potions the kid had on him and opened the first one. Gently, he tilted the kid’s head and poured some in his mouth. He then forced him to swallow it and then repeated the process until both vials were empty.

But as these were rather simple potions, he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Not even if he used the third. So instead, he uncapped the magicka potion and downed it in several large gulps. Thankfully, this one was one of the stronger ones. And Martin could feel most of his power restored.

Immediately, he let the power flow through him and activated one of the two strongest healing spells he knew. The _Grand Healing_. And he would have loved to have a chat with whoever came up with those names. At least Magnetic Flux sounded cool.

He channeled the healing energy to Riku and as it did its job, he could feel all the wounds closing. Soon, though, his magicka was running low again. Thankfully, the spell seemed to have done its job as Riku finally opened his eyes.

“What happened?” he asked as Martin gently helped him sit up.

“The Draugr surprised us with an ability neither of us expected him to have,” Martin explained.

“What ability? And what does FUS mean?” Riku continued to ask questions.

“Thu’um, or Dragon shouting, if you want,” Martin said. “It’s an ability to use Dovahzul, the dragon language, to unleash immense power. Like FUS, for example. You already know it means force. But, if you say it with intimate knowledge of the word and with intent to fling someone, or something, through the air, it will happen. You would unleash a shockwave that would at the very least stagger anyone in your path.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Apparently, witnessing the Thu’um for the first time from a non-dragon entity is what unlocked the knowledge. Knowledge that has been in my mind all this time, just hidden.”

“Akatosh?” Riku uttered the name with a hint of a grin.

“Yeah. Sometimes I wonder what his endgame is…” Martin replied.

“Do you think he’s possibly spending too much time with Sheogorath? The Daedric Princ of Madness?” Riku wondered.

“Possible. Or Sanguine drank him under the table and he’s still hungover.” Martin had a wide grin on his face when he said that only for it to change to wince as he felt invisible fingers pinch his cheek.

_Okay, okay, I’m sorry,_ he told the Dragon God and heard a chuckle in response.

_“Talk to you later,”_ Akatosh said and with a soft caress, his presence disappeared.

“What did Akatosh say?” Riku asked.

“He doesn’t like us insinuating he has a drinking problem,” Martin smiled.

“So,” Riku said with a sudden purpose. “Should we go and check out that gigantic chest? See if the stone is there?”

“Yes, we should,” Martin nodded and rose to his feet. Then he offered Riku a hand and when he took it, he pulled the kid to his feet.

They walked over to the chest and Riku eagerly opened it. Then he peered inside and gasped.

“Awesome!” he grinned and started to pull the loot out.

First, he tossed a huge soul gem to Martin, who caught it with no problem and stored it in his pouch. And then pulled out two finely crafted bows. One was inlaid with dark blue sapphires while the other had diamonds in it. And it glowed with an aura of an enchantment of some kind. Riku didn’t know which one though.

Martin took the enchanted bow to examine it. He took an arrow from Riku’s quiver and nocked it. Then experimentally, he pulled the string back to get the feel of the weapon. And, incidentally, the enchantment. From what he could glean from his experiment, the bow was enchanted with a soul trapping spell, but that wasn’t all. There was one more enchantment on the bow, but Martin just couldn’t tell what it was. Only that it was an offensive enchantment.

“You should keep it,” Riku said as he looked up from inspecting the other bow. “I think it suits you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want it?” Martin had to ask.

“I think I prefer this one, he tapped the Sapphire bow. And if I want to enchant it later, I’m sure you would be willing to show me how. Right?” Riku answered and then took his old bow and placed it in the now empty chest.

“Alright,” Martin conceded and slung the bow on his back. “But now I’ll have to get some arrows…”

“Or you could tweak that bow spell of yours, summon only the arrows?” Riku suggested.

“Worth a try, but not something I want to experiment with right now. I’ll stick to the bound bow until I can find enough arrows for myself,” Martin decided.

“And we still don’t have that rock…” Riku suddenly grumbled.

Martin looked into the chest, but there was nothing else in there, only the longbow Riku placed in there. He looked around for possible other hiding places and his eyes landed on the sarcophagus the Draugr rose out of.

“Let’s try looking there,” he pointed to it and they both moved to see if there was anything in there.


End file.
